


Of Second Meetings

by withdrawnred



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Co-worker/Office, Compliancy: DH EWE?, Drama, F/M, Forced Partnership, General, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-30
Updated: 2011-07-30
Packaged: 2017-10-21 23:25:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/231034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/withdrawnred/pseuds/withdrawnred
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A project working, yet again, side-by-side with Draco Malfoy is dumped on her with a mere few minutes to prepare herself mentally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Second Meetings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sarahyyy](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=sarahyyy).



> **Disclaimer:** In its use of intellectual property and characters belonging to JK Rowling, Warner Bros, Bloomsbury Publishing, et cetera, this work is intended to be transformative commentary on the original. No profit is being made from this work.  
>  **Beta Readers:** dormiensa, alltheglitters
> 
> Written for sarahyyy at LJ with the prompt "As if we never said goodbye".

She would probably have been nervous if she'd had time to. However, as it was, this new assignment -- complete with new-but-old partner -- had been thrust upon her within the past half hour, leaving her twenty-five minutes to scramble like a mad woman to compile proper preparations for the meeting. That had left the five minute commute across departments for her to wallow in her nerves.

She concentrated doubly to not show any outward reactions to him as she walked into the boardroom. At least they had given her some form of notice, she reasoned. Merlin only knew how she'd have reacted if his presence had been a complete surprise. It wouldn't have been pretty. Hysterics would have certainly been possible. That, and awkwardness.

As it was, she'd had the ... fortune of foresight, despite that foresight being a mere half hour. She wasn't bitter or anything. Just disconcerted.

"Gentlemen," she greeted as the door slid shut behind her, precisely at 10:00. Her glance at the object of her thoughts lasted the length it required to give him a curt, though polite, nod.

It was the perfect amount of time to look at her ex, whom she'd not seen in a little over six months. That would definitely explain how much tighter her shoulders were drawn after catching a whiff of his cologne. Thankfully, though, as far as she could tell, he hadn't noticed.

***

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" she commented cheerily as they departed the boardroom.

It really surprised her how ... easy it had been to collaborate with him over the past couple of hours. She was trying not to dwell on just how not-bad it was, on how actually good it was. Almost the same as it had been. And by almost, she meant exactly.

They truly were an almost unmatchable team when they put their minds to it. In fact, that was how they'd hooked up in the first place. Strap two people on enough projects together and eventually they will at least 'get along', though that phrase had been defined almost completely differently by each supervisor who had received their cases. Then the tension grew. And then it had snapped, resulting in a long, emotionally involved (For both parties, Hermione liked to think, but she wouldn't be surprised if that was her delusional tendencies rearing their ugly heads.) relationship.

And, well, she was just glad they were still compatible co-workers after all that.

His eyebrow rose in response, his typical choice to demonstrate boredom. "What wasn't?"

She waved her hand between their two bodies, sincerely hoping he'd get the hint and not make her flounder in her attempts to explain her train of thought.

Those sorts of situations with him had never really turned out well for Hermione. In fact, she quite preferred not to think about it. It was a common theme in her life when Draco Malfoy was concerned.

"Mmm," he murmured in response, and she sent up a silent prayer to the gods that someone had taken mercy on her, saving her the hassle of impossible explanations.

"If it wasn't so bad, why were you so stiff? I haven't seen anyone look like they had that large of a broomstick up their arse in months. Thanks for that, Granger."

Her head snapped over to him, mouth wide open in preparation for the developing retort. Hit, he had noticed, the cheeky bastard. His own mirthful grin stopped her.

"Merlin, woman, relax." He squeezed her shoulder, his thumb rubbing back and forth a couple times before he snapped it back and averted his eyes. It seemed he was fighting the same thing she was: how to be in close proximity with each other while decidedly not falling back into their old patterns. It would be so easy.

Hermione glanced down at her black flats. "Right." She rubbed one toe against the hem of her trousers, trying to get a scuff off the smooth material of the shoe. "Well," she continued, glancing up again, "I'd better get back to my office. I'll see you next week."

The most she could do was offer a small, hopefully professional and polite, smile as she turned at the fork between her department and his.

On the way back to her office, amongst various personal reprimands to not fall back into it, she promised herself that throughout this collaboration she wouldn't send him a single personal owl.

What she hadn't done, though, was decide whether or not she'd reply to any he sent her way.


End file.
